my son has been drinking what would you do .

[sensiblesometimes]

occasionally photoes that have been sent to him pop up on my google cloud , he was out on saturday with mates. Today a photo has popped up with him holding a bottle of wine with his mates, he was home by 9 pm was happy but didnt seem drunk . He is 15 yrs old . They were in the local park .
Should I:
Go ballistic and lecture him on dangers of boozing put firm boundaries in. place next time he is out .
2: keep.quite so that he dosent realise i see his pictures but put firm boundaries in place nxt time he goes out .

3 other ?

I know it's covid pandemic but they were outside in a group of 7

Drinking wine in a park at 15 is the epitome of risky teen behaviour. It’s not necessarily going to mean he’s an out of control drinker at thirty, but you need to talk to him about how alcohol is a progressive drug, and he needs (for his own good) a realistic attitude to what it does and how it works.

Being in a group of seven however would.

How big a group do you think they are in whilst at school?

I agree with having a talk with him about it. It's unlikely you going mad will stop him drinking. It will definitely stop him being able to call you for help or ask you for advice.

@LightTheFlameThrower

Wine wouldn’t bother me.

Being in a group of seven however would.

Most MN comment ever! Hope this is meant ironically

Talk with him about drinking and how to do it safely. I would also advice another safe sex chat as well. Try to remain calm so he knows he can always come to you, I told mine it doesnt matter how they tell/ask - in person, email, text, letter etc - as long as they do.

I also told mine what to do if one of their mates got passed out drunk call an ambulance, throwing up contact a parent and to generally look out for each other.

Yes calls did get made, at the time people were pissed off the adults had been brought in, but somewhere during the hangover clearing it was all sorted out.

And that poor girl and her parents, left by her mates.

I had the "sensible drinking" chat with my older 2 DC and made it clear that, no matter what when or why, I would come and bail them out if ever they and their friends needed someone. Also "never leave your friends" was drummed home. And both have ended up being "dad" for a drunken friend on occasion.

I took the view that they were going to drink regardless and it was better they learnt how to do it sensibly. When they were out, I always left my phone on when usually I would turn it off overnight.

Cleaning up the red wine he'd vommed all over the house cured my 15yo's fascination with wine. He was gagging the whole time he was cleaning. I'm secretly quite proud his instinct was to come straight home to me when he felt ill & drunk. Teens are always going to do things like that, it's part of growing up. As long as your lines of communication are open & they know they can count on you it'll be lessons well learnt.

I'd be more worried about him being in a dark park with his mates for hours on end. And thats before you factor in Covid, a group bigger than 6, sharing a bottle, underage drinking, and drinking in a public place!

Ah, fond memories of being 15 and drinking 2l bottles of frosty in the field behind the high school circa 1998, and waking up in bed with a mixing bowl on the floor next to me. God bless my mum.

@Sycamoretrees

I'd be more worried about him being in a dark park with his mates for hours on end. And thats before you factor in Covid, a group bigger than 6, sharing a bottle, underage drinking, and drinking in a public place!

If they aren't in a dark park where do you expect them to go? Chances are they've all been stuck in a class allday together in school. Because of restrictions they cannot go and do this in one of their houses.

Someone might have also brought along a couple of plastic cups, some into water bottles, they also skye drink. Even without CV they don't want to drink each others back wash.

I used to do that. Oh those days seems like a bloody long time ago.

I'd be trying to explain the difference between getting tipsy and enjoying yourself as being fun whereas going for paralytic and out of it, isn't.